Thursday, September 30, 2010

The small village of Rausu on the south eastern side of the Shiretoko Peninsula has a population of just over 6,000 people and is much quieter than Utoro on the opposite side of the peninsula. Rausu's Konbumachi is famous for konbu, a thick kind of seaweed used in Japanese cooking.

There are a few onsen hotels and a number of smaller minshuku (traditional inns) in Rausu, which also has a campsite.

There are whale watching tours in season departing from the town's fishing port and it's possible to hike to Rausu-dake - a challenging climb.

Tour boats leave from Utoro port to sail up and down the Shiretoko Peninsula.

It is 30km to Utoro on the other coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula through the Shiretoko Pass on the Shiretoko Odan Road when it is open for traffic in the summer months. There are buses all year to Kushiro (3 hours, 30 minutes). Rausu is around 70 km northeast from Nakashibetsu Airport, which has flights to Haneda and Chitose.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Utoro is the main tourist town and fishing port giving access to Shiretoko National Park on the western coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula.

The town offers some good restaurants right next to the harbor, known for their very fresh seafood including salmon roe, Hokkaido crabs and local sea urchins. There are plenty of traditional minshuku and ryokan in town, many of them with onsen.

The Oronkoiwa Rock behind the harbor gives a good view of the town (see above) and can easily be climbed. There is also a ski slope further in the mountains behind Utoro.

Tour boats leave from Utoro port to sail up and down the Shiretoko Peninsula.

Utoro is connected by bus with JR Shiretoko Shari Station (50 minutes) along National Highway 334 and Memanbetsu Airport (2 hours, 20 minutes). It is 30km to Rausu on the east coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula through the Shiretoko Pass on the Shiretoko Odan Road when it is open for traffic in the summer months.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Odakyu Department Store in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward is the most imposing sight on the western side of Shinjuku Station, with its 14 stories and sporting a soaring tower-like feature in attractive adobe-colored gradations. It is part of the Odakyu group which runs the railway that goes as far west as the north of the Izu peninsula, and whose Shinjuku station is inside the same complex. The group also operates Odakyu Department Stores in Tokyo's Tamachi and Fujisawa.

Odakyu Shinjuku has 14 floors above ground and two below, all but five of them stocking merchandise. Most of the department store is for women, but there are international boutiques on the first (ground) floor, restaurants on the 12th, 13th, and 14th floors, a men’s department on the 7th floor, a department for “babies, kids and teens” (the “teens” bit being largely wishful thinking!) on the 9th floor, books, stationery and fine art on the 10th floor, and – best till last – food galore on the B2 floor.

The shopping is, as the above suggests, matronly, but matronly is fine when it comes to food. The food floor of the Odakyu Department Store is no match for that of the Isetan Department Store on the east side of Shinjuku Station for elegance and spaciousness, but Odakyu is worth it as an example of milling, old-fashioned market-style cacophony.

The B1 floor is the Shinjuku station underpass, but is also a hive of commercial activity with small shops here and there, and retailers and craftsmen often selling their wares in hired spaces.

Odakyu Department Store was established in 1962 on the site of what is now its annex, HALC. HALC is dominated by the electronic and home appliance megastore, Bic Camera. B2, B1, 1F and 2F of the Odakyu Department Store have walkways to the HALC annex.

There can often be seen a mendicant monk begging for alms at one of the entrances of Odakyu. There is sometimes a Japanese right-wing truck parked out front haranguing shoppers.

The space in front of Odakyu is a large open bus station. Right across from the entrance to Odakyu you can see the shiny, tapered space-age Shinjuku Mode Gakuen tower.

Odakyu Department Store is open from 10am to 8.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 8pm on Sundays and public holidays.

The 13th and 14th restaurant floors are open from 11am to 10.30pm, and the 12th restaurant floor from 11am to 10pm.

Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!

There will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices).Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks.Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends.EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated.About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese.Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.

The Tokyo Waterworks Historical Museum is a small, easily accessible, modern museum in Tokyo’s Bunkyo ward that presents the history of a public potable water supply in the capital.

The origins of Tokyo’s water supply go back to the year 1590 when the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, having consolidated his authority over the nation at his stronghold in the township of Edo (now Tokyo), decreed the construction of a drinkable water supply as one of the first steps in building what became a city.

The Tokyo Waterworks Historical Museum colorfully traces this history on two spacious floors of exhibits.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The 2010 Japan Census forms will have been arriving in your post box over the last week and need to be completed and returned by October 7, 2010.

The Japanese language-only form is fairly straight forward and involves a multiple-choice form, rather like a Japanese university entrance examination. For information in English please visit the official census site. If you would like a survey in a language other than Japanese, either ask the visiting official (I did and was told she only had them in Japanese) or visit the your local ward office's Statistics & Election office in the General Administrative Section (総務課 souma-ka).

There is no plan in the pipe-line for a European-style blanket ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in Japan, a step which would be deeply unpopular with Japan's army of male salaried workers and the owners of hostess bars and snacks, but widely welcomed by everyone else.

Convenience stores and supermarkets are pushing sales cartons of 200 cigarettes at their check out counters in an attempt to clear old stock.

Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!

There will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices).Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks.Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends.EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated.About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese.Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.

Kashiwaya Ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn located at the entrance of Shima Onsen, about 150 km north of Tokyo in Gunma Prefecture.

Kashiwaya Ryokan has three types of outdoor baths (rotemburo) as well as one indoor bath, and a private bath for chartered use.

Kashiwaya Ryokan is a 3 hour journey by train or bus from Tokyo.

Access

Take a Niigata or Nagano bound shinkansen to Takasaki (50 minutes) or take the JR Takasaki line (90 minutes). At Takasaki change to the JR Agatsuma Line for Nakanojo (50 minutes).
There are 3 direct Kusastu Express trains from Ueno Station to Nakanojo Station.
From Nakanojo Station take a bus for Shima Spa and get off at Seiryu-No-Yu bus-stop.

There are also direct Highway buses from Tokyo Station to Shima Onsen.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Japan has a very large Brazilian community, mainly second generation returnees of the Japanese immigrants who went to Brazil in the early 20th century after Japan had impoverished itself in winning the Russo-Japanese War. The boom years of the 1980s brought their children and grandchildren back to Japan, but to a culture completely different to the one they were raised in.

Nevertheless, despite the cultural divide between Japanese born here and Brazilian Japanese, the latter are permitted to stay here and are able to get permanent residency much more easily than foreigners without Japanese ancestry.

Tokyo is of course home to a large percentage of the Brazilians in Japan, and Yoyogi Park sees the Brazil Festival every year, which is no holds barred celebration of Brazilian high spirits. The rhythms are infectious, and some of the dancing is like you've never seen before.

The festival took place on the ninth of this month. It has taken 10 days or so to get in gear and produce the video. Here it is. Click, and you have no choice but to ... enjoy!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

We have a book, One Hundred Poets on Mount Ogura, One Poem Each, with much of any profit we eventually make going to charity - the charitable act of cleaning up Japan's Hill of Poetry! Our NPO needs funds for this.

The 100 contemporary poems comprise 68 haiku and 32 tanka, of which 40 were originally composed in English and 60 in Japanese. All are translated into the other language, with bilingual notes furnished about the literary history, natural history, and environmental issues to which they may allude.

Mount Ogura is situated in the Sagano area of rural Kyoto, and was where Priest Saigyo built his first hermitage, where Fujiwara Teika compiled his Hyakunin Isshu (100 classical poems collection that became the karuta card game), and where Basho wrote his Saga Nikki.

For the past six or seven years, a few of us have been taking groups of haiku poets, local people, students, resident foreigners, etc. up the mountain to clear the tons of rubbish illegally tipped there, and to help with conservation of pine and bamboo forest.

It is a gem of a hill - with views on all sides, some into a gorge - but it needs love. It took 6 years before the editors felt they had enough good poems from which to select. We are there now - the book has been launched - and I (as one of the editors) am wondering to whom to send a review copy.

The 136-page book is unique in its mix of both Japanese and English, haiku and tanka, and in its local literary/environmental thrust. We would like the poems to get a good airing and the haiku/tanka community to enjoy them - some by respected poets (a few well-known), others by locals who until the day they went to Mt. Ogura had probably never written a poem in their lives.

If you, or your journal/site editor would like a copy, ostensibly for review, please shout! If you would like to order one personally, that would be appreciated, of course, and to that end the prices are given below. We will have to see how the stock goes with our free allocation. The full-color covers by Yoshio Kawagoe (two scissor-cut works of Saga and of some rubbish cleared!) are viewable on our Icebox site at quite near the top (or on the Publications page accessed at top right).

Stephen (Tito)

Following the monk
with a key as long as a wand ...
autumn leaves

Prices for anyone wishing to order copies
Ordering from abroad: US$ cash double-wrapped inside your order and another blank sheet in an envelope to Hisashi Miyazaki, 54-16 Hamuro-cho, Takatsuki-shi, Osaka-fu 569-1147, Japan. Prices incl. p & p and have been specially discounted for foreign orders. Pounds sterling also accepted. Please do your own conversion. Hisashi is very efficient and will send you the book(s) by return. hmyzk1307@iris.eonet.ne.jp

Monday, September 20, 2010

Nagoya Agricultural Center is a large city-operated public gardens in the east of the city.

The gardens are especially known for their plum blossoms in March.

It's free to get in, there's a cafe/restaurant, a shop selling often organic vegetables as well as plants and health foods, glass houses, a bamboo forest, streams and even a model farm with battery chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and cows.

The nearest station is Hirabari on the Tsurumai Line - head east from the station on the road to Toyota. The Nagoya Agricultural Center is about 15 minutes on foot on your right or take a bus or taxi from Hirabari Station.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Japanese noren curtains are a feature outside many restaurants, bath houses (sento) and traditional stores. Usually rectangular in shape, noren have several slits in the fabric to allow easy passage, ventilation and allow a degree of privacy while at the same time allowing a peek inside.

Noren often advertise the wares or function of the business from which they are hung and are a sign that the place is open for trade. Noren are taken down at closing time, signifying the place is closed.

Classic noren can be seen outside Japanese bath houses often with the character for hot water 湯 or the corresponding hiragana ゆ.

Noren are also used as room dividers in individual homes. Kyoto is known for its high quality indigo-dyed curtains in traditional and modern designs.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Yoyogi Park in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward is one of Tokyo’s biggest, and is only a few minutes walk away from the youth fashion area of Harajuku. Next to Yoyogi Park is the Meiji Jingu Shrine, Japan’s most famous Shinto shrine.

Yoyogi Park is the site of Japan’s first powered flight, in 1910. It was the site of the athletes’ village for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, as well as the venue of a few of the events, and it became a public park only in 1967.

Yoyogi Park's main attractions are its free entry and sprawling size - making it great for kids to run around in – and, on Sundays, the kaleidoscope of human activity that takes place here: with everything going on from trance parties to '50s street jivers.

I was in Yoyogi Park on Saturday, and took a few snaps of people, flora, and fauna, proving that although it may not be as meticulously landscaped as some other of Tokyo's parks, armed with a keen eye and curiosity, a very stimulating afternoon can be had here.

Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!

Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!

There will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices).Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks.Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends.EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated.About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese.Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.

The Red Rock is located behind the Chunichi Building in the Sakae business/shopping district.

Subway access from Sakae Station (serving the yellow and purple lines) Exit 13. It’s a big station connected to a huge underground shopping mall so you’ll need to do a little underground walking.

We’re also just a couple of minutes’ walk from the Tokyu and Precede hotels, and a 10 minute walk up Hirokoji Street from the Hilton Hotel in Fushimi.

Train Directions

From Nagoya Stn. take the Higashiyama Subway line to Sakae Station (GET OFF at Sakae Station!!) Take exit #13 and then walk straight AWAY from Hirokoji-Dori for about 3/4 of a block. TURN LEFT Red Rock is on the right side of the street in the middle of the block. Look for the sign on the sidewalk.

One standard question that many foreigners in Japan are asked is: "Can you eat natto?"

The strong smell and slimy constituency of natto - fermented soybeans - means that even many Japanese are put off this much-maligned, healthy, gooey and 100% vegetarian delicacy.

Natto is usually served with a touch of karashi mustard and a drizzle of soy sauce and eaten as an accompaniment to rice whether at breakfast or dinner. A little bit of sake poured on the natto as a condiment can also add to the flavor, I've found.

Mass produced natto sold in supermarkets usually comes in a 50g polystyrene pack with little sachets of mustard and soy sauce.

The health benefits of eating natto are many and legendary and include lowering cholesterol, preventing cancer and strokes to helping fight obesity.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Japanese "Craft Beer" or real ale is undergoing something of a boom in a country for too long dominated by the uniform brews of the big four Japanese beer producers: Kirin, Asahi, Suntory and Sapporo.

Toshi Ishii, who has studied brewing in the USA, Czech Republic and Norway is a leading light in the Craft Ale revolution with his own company Ishii Brewing.

Some time back Toshi e-mailed Stone Brewing Company in California as his name translates as "stone" and was taken on as a 3-year intern, thus beginning a long journey to becoming a master brewer.

Toshi's prize-winning "Amber Ale" is his trademark beer on the foreign circuit. Back home in Japan Toshi was responsible for the popular Yona Yona Ale, an American style golden pale ale, brewed by Yo-Ho Brewing in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.

Craft Beer is not cheap in Japan, I recently paid 1,100 yen for half a wine glass of a top beer in Nagoya, but by god, it did taste great.

Some recommended bars to sample craft beer in Nagoya city include Bar Cask (Tel: 052 752 8200) not far from Kakuozan Station on the Higashiyama Line of the Nagoya subway, Craft Beer Keg (Tel: 052 971 8211) near TV Tower in Sakae and Cafe Lembeek (Tel: 052 734 8558) near Motoyama Subway Station also on the Higashiyama Line.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

With nearly every man, woman and child owning a mobile phone in Japan, public telephones are decreasing in number.

However, you will usually be able to find a public telephone at most railway and subway stations, hotel lobbies, schools, universities, office buildings and department stores in Japan.

NTT operates the public telephone service and in general you will encounter two types of public phones: green and gray.

From both gray and green phones you can usually make domestic and international calls. If the phone does not take international calls it will say so on the screen on the phone (DOMESTIC; 国内専用) as in the image below.

Both gray and green public telephones take 10 yen and 100 yen coins as well as telephone cards with a value of 1000 yen which can be purchased at any convenience store.

A local call within the same city costs 10 yen per minute. Charges for city-to-city calls vary according to the distance. Domestic calls are cheaper in the evening and on Saturday, Sunday & public holidays.

Increasingly rare is the pink public telephone which takes 10 yen coins only and is exclusively for domestic calls.

Unlike in the UK, I have yet to encounter a public telephone in Japan that didn't work or had been vandalized.

Friday, September 10, 2010

There are innumerable hairdressers in Japan's cities ranging from cheap, 10$ "dry-cut" joints with no shampoo and the red, white and blue revolving poles to the glitzy salons on inner city boulevards that charge 600 bucks a crop for a "course" from their "menu".

Thursday, September 09, 2010

That Japan's society is aging rapidly is no secret. In 1990, there were around six people of working age for each retired person drawing a pension. By 2025, that number will be around just two.

Japan has the highest proportion of over-65s in the world and the lowest ratio of children under 15. In 2009, the population of elderly citizens (65 years and over) in Japan was 29.01 million, 22.7 % of the total population and a record high in terms of number and percentage. The percentage of people over 65 is expected to rise to an amazing 40% by 2055.

Prominent in the news recently have been numerous cases of supposed centenarians in Japan having actually died several years ago, but their deaths remaining unreported to the authorities. The recent cases of Japan's missing centenarians have highlighted the social problems caused by the country's graying population: unscrupulous relatives working the pension system to milk the state, overstretched social workers unable to keep track of the country's senior citizens and isolated pensioners slowly sliding out of touch with society around them.

Some may argue that Japan is overcrowded and that a reduction in the population is to be desired, but if a large proportion of the population remains aged what sort of a future does Japan face?

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Assigning a center to a metropolis the size of Tokyo is an arbitrary act. You could say the Imperial Palace (Kokyo), and perhaps the Marunouchi area just east of it around Tokyo Station. However, the Imperial Palace is very subdued, and once night falls neither can Marunouchi said to be even remotely jumping.

The one place that really has it all: a convergence of train lines, department stores, skyscrapers, corporate head offices, fashion stores, shopping malls, clubs, bars, nightlife (gay and straight), and major non-stop 24/7 buzz, is the Shinjuku district.

And the major daytime attraction for the hundreds of thousands of people who crowd Shinjuku daily, besides those there for work, is the shopping. Virtually everything you could want in terms of food, fashion, hobbies, books, electronics, home appliances - you name it - can be found within 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku station.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Curry House Coco Ichibanya began life in Nishi Biwajima in Nagoya in 1978 and now has over 1200 restaurants spread throughout all 47 prefectures in Japan as well as overseas stores in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hawaii.

The company specializes in a pork cutlet curry with a thick pork-based sauce but also has a bewildering number of other dishes including aubergine curry, beef curry, chicken curry, cuttlefish curry, natto curry, shrimp curry, tofu curry, vegetable curry etc etc. All the curries come with the pork-rich stew so this is not a place for vegetarians. Customize your curry by choosing the level of spiciness and the amount of rice you require.

Diners can order from an English menu and a variety of sides dishes: salads, croquettes and pickles are also available.

Service is usually quick and polite as befits the company's motto: "Briskly, Sharply, and with a Smile."

Coco Ichibanya has offered various gimmicks to keep its loyal customers including a free curry refill if you can finish off their largest curry on the menu.